What is UPSC Exam?

Introduction to UPSE Exam

The UPSC CSE is held over a period of time in three different phases. Firstly, preliminaries are held under two categories, i.e. General Studies Paper-I and General Studies Paper-II. Each consisting of 200 marks held over a period of 2 hours each. For all candidates who appear in UPSC CSE, it is mandatory for them to give the “Preliminaries” in order to apply for the lucrative. “Mains” UPSC CSE as one must qualify the prelims to sit for the mains. As the regulations mandate, the first one must qualify the prelims and then the mains, and after that, the “Personality Test” which is intended to explore whether the candidates possess the mental quality and analytical ability and potential depth for the services they intend to hold.The combined marks achieved from the mains and the personality test determine the final merit list or the eligible few who carry the metal to perform these services.

What is UPSC Exam?

Firstly an introduction to Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) Civil Services Examination (CSE), it is a nationally held competitive examination in India. It is conducted by the UPSC for the recruitment of various civil service jobs for the Government of India. This includes prestigious services such as Indian Administrative Service, Indian Foreign Service, and Indian Police Service jobs as well. This examination is held annually with a prescribed date to recruit the best & brightest of India. It is conducted in three parts, preliminary, main & a personality test (interview), and it first commenced back in 1922.

Stages of UPSC 2021

The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) Civil Services Examination (CSE) 2021 has been built upon a strict, regulated, tried and tested meticulous curriculum which churns and helps filter out the very best of candidates from India. These are carefully supervised by a panel of top-notch and excellent selected administrators or controllers appointed by the UPSC committee.

The UPSC CSE 2021 is divided into two stages:

• First, the Prelims part of the exam consists of two parts, General Studies Paper I and General Studies Paper-II exploring candidate’s general ability
• Second, the Mains, this involves the second phase of the UPSC CSE, which checks the candidate’s academic talent through depth perception and his/her ability to perform as per the requirement of the questions in a time-bound manner. Similar to the Prelims, the Mains is also divided into sub-parts which overall determines his/her capability to live up to this prolific exam’s standard.

UPSC 2021 Syllabus

As discussed before, UPSC CSE has two stages:

Firstly, the Prelims consisting of:

• General Studies Paper I (includes current events, History, Geography, Politics & Governance, Economy, General Issues and Science).
• General Studies Paper-II (includes comprehension, logical reasoning, decision making, general mental ability and basic numeracy).
• Each section is allotted 200 marks each, a total of 400 marks.
• The time limit is of 2 hours each ( 20 mins extra for special candidates, blind or with a disability).
• Question types are MCQ objective types.

Secondly, the Mains exam syllabus or curriculum consists of :

• There are a total of ‘9 papers’, and from them, two of them are qualifying papers and all of these are in descriptive medium.
• These qualifying papers are any language papers and English language paper, each having 300 marks separately.
• It is absolutely mandatory for all candidates who have qualified from the prelims to the mains and are appearing for the mains must qualify these two papers for their overall mains marks to be considered and to finally pass the mains exam.
• These Language papers consist of Essay Writing, Reading Comprehension, Precis Writing, Translation (English to Preferred other languages and Preferred other languages to English) and Grammar and also basic language usage.
• This leaves the rest of the 7 papers that generally include papers like Essays which include topics to be written in a medium as per the candidate’s choice.
• Then comes General Studies 1, which explores the candidate’s depth in knowledge regarding Indian Heritage, Culture, History, Geography of the World and Society.
• Similarly, General Studies 2 checks the political knowledge of the candidates such as Constitution, Governance, Politics, and Social Justice & International Relations.
• General Studies 3 consists of the latest & very potential subjects like Economic Development, Technology, Biodiversity, Security & Disaster Management to verify a candidate’s social awareness and whether they are up to date with the latest & crucial topics as these concerns everyone around us.
• General Studies 4 is included in the syllabus to test the candidate’s Ethics, Integrity and Aptitude.
• Finally are the two Optional subject papers.
• Candidates can choose these two optional papers from a pool of 48 subjects according to their strong points and backgrounds and also includes Literature of different languages.
• All these 7 papers are allotted grading marks of 250 each.
• So the total marks allotted for the Mains part of CSE is 1750.

UPSC 2021 Strategy

So this is the overall view of the syllabus for the UPSC 2021 which needs to be strictly and deliberately observed by all candidates who want to appear for these exams which include rigorous studies, revisions and practices like solving test papers, a thorough paper by paper studies and also giving countless mock tests thus this is a simple and effective but at the same time strenuous and highly disciplined strategy for success in this UPSC exam.

UPSC Exam 2021 Notification

The UPSC 2021 exam notifications have been released now:

• The online application process will begin from 4^th March 2021 till 6:00 PM of 24^th March 2021, which is the closing date.
• Prelims to take place on 27^th June 2021.
• Results to be released mid-July.
• Mains to take place from 17^th September 2021.
• Personality test date yet to be announced.

Recommended Articles

This is a guide to What is UPSC Exam? Here we discuss a brief overview on the UPSC exam, stages, strategies and notifications along with the main syllabus of the UPSC CSE exam. You may also have a look at the following articles to learn more–

1. Introduction to UPSC CSE Syllabus
2. UPSC CSE Eligibility
3. Guide to UPSC CSE Age Limit
4. UPSC Exam| How to Apply for the UPSC Exam?